Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $324.00 price target on the medical research company’s stock.

AMGN has been the subject of several other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Amgen in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut Amgen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Amgen from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $256.00 price objective on shares of Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Amgen from $333.00 to $298.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.65.

Amgen Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Amgen stock opened at $275.42 on Friday. Amgen has a 1 year low of $253.30 and a 1 year high of $346.85. The business has a 50-day moving average of $271.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $306.24. The company has a market capitalization of $148.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The medical research company reported $5.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.11 by $0.47. Amgen had a return on equity of 168.35% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Amgen will post 19.56 EPS for the current year.

Amgen Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $9.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. This is a positive change from Amgen’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.25. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 121.90%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amgen

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMGN. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 33,125.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,460,181 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,437,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446,757 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 6,812.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,523,387 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,130,610,000 after purchasing an additional 2,486,882 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 561.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,539,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $496,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,306,982 shares during the period. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 9,058.1% during the second quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 756,460 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $223,897,000 after purchasing an additional 748,200 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Amgen by 40.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,338,665 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $609,526,000 after acquiring an additional 676,598 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

Amgen Company Profile

Amgen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. The company's principal products include Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet's disease; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; XGEVA for skeletal-related events prevention; Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization; Nplate for the treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; EVENITY for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal for men and women; Vectibix to treat patients with wild-type RAS metastatic colorectal cancer; BLINCYTO for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia; TEPEZZA to treat thyroid eye disease; and KRYSTEXXA for the treatment of chronic refractory gout.